ELMER ANSWERS SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS

I guess this first questions I answer, was the most asked.  Yup, I got that piece of apple pie that Anna said she might be able to come up with.  After supper on that Sunday, she came up with the apple pie with one piece missing that she have given to someone at dinner.  The rest of the pie was there, so we each had a piece at supper.  I tried to sneak another piece, but Anna caught me, and told me two pieces in one day was enough.  We both put on a little weight in the winter and Anna wants us to lose some.  But over the next couple of days, we finished off that pie.

Our church is every other Sunday, all year around.  The only exceptions are the two times a year we have Communion.   We have Communion on Good Friday and the Sunday before Christmas.  Our church services are held in peoples homes.  It is rotated around so you only get to hold Sunday service in your house once or twice a year.  If we are having a big dinner after like for Mother's Day or Father's Day when we and the Old Order Mennonites get together, it is usually held at Bishop Eli's house as he has the most yard area.  This year Mother's Day was held at Jean and David's.

The reason for every other Sunday goes back to the days before the Amish came to the United States when our fore fathers were being persecuted and had to hide in peoples homes to have a service.  Even when they came to the United States led by William Penn, in some places, we were not wanted and were persecuted.  During that time, they did not know when they may be able to meet again to have services, sing, pray and have fellowship.  Sometimes they stayed together for many hours to worship.

Today, we do not forget our past persecution.  Although sometimes we still have problems today, not as severe as we did back then.  But we remember our past.  We have services in peoples to remind us of former days where our people were persecuted.  Also, there is so reason to build a church when we can use our homes.  Our services are about three hours long.  After which we have a meal together.

Now that I said, Amish don't build churches - most don't.  There are some areas where they do build churches, but I am talking about our Old Order Amish.  Most Amish groups meet in people houses, but like I said a while back, there are different Amish groups that do some different things from other groups.

We have a pony living at our place now.  There was an add in the local Ontario County paper, someone was looking for a home for it.  I called, got a driver, a friend of mine and went out to see it.  Our driver had a horse trailer in case we brought it back.

I think the fellow was a little concerned when he say we were Amish.  He leveled with us and said he had heard bad things about Amish taking care of animals.  I explained that a few Amish, not doing the right things, have given us all a bad reputation and if he wanted to drive out to my farm to see my animals, that was fine with me.  He would find that all of our horses, cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, or cats are far from being maltreated.  Finally, he let me have the pony.

We took it home and let it get use to us before we told our grandchildren know that we had it.  All of them wanted to take it home with them.  Anna and I decided it will stay on our farm.  Not that our grandchildren are cruel, but we want to make sure the pony is safe and taken care of.  Anna said it will also get the grandchildren over to our house more often so we can see them.

Pony was saddle broken and gets along well with the children and the children with the pony.  The man that owned it did come by our farm after we had it for a few days.  He saw our animals and agreed that we did not torture them or injure them.

When the man got there the pony was gone.  He thought we sold it.  We had him in for a cup of coffee and told him one of our grandchildren was riding it and he would be back.  About fifteen minutes later one of our grandsons came back on the pony.  Not knowing we were waiting for him, he took the saddle off the horse and brushed it down.  Made sure it had food and water.  The man was impressed.

If one of our grandchildren is going to ride the pony, they have to check in with Anna or myself first.  Just want to make sure the pony doesn't get over ridden and worn out.  Also, we check up on them to make sure they take care of the pony. We also let Jean's Susan, Katie and Little David ride on it - one at a time not all three on at one time. They really enjoyed it.  It has been a big hit with our grandchildren.

Trust God's Wisdom,
Elmer